There is a pattern developing in Hull City ’s season, one that keeps on applying the brakes to progress and stifling momentum at source.

In exactly half of their 12 Championship games under Leonid Slutsky, a goal has been conceded after 87 minutes have elapsed. And only once, in the 6-1 win over Birmingham, was it truly academic.

Against QPR and Preston, a 1-1 draw became a late 2-1 defeat, while at Reading a 1-0 lead was cancelled out by another costly lapse. Even the 3-2 loss at home to Wolves in August might have been different but for a breakaway goal in the final minute from the division’s new leaders.

At Carrow Road the Tigers’ found stoppage-time woe to top the lot.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Read More

For over an hour they led through Nouha Dicko’s impressive breakaway goal, defending as resolutely as they had all season long. Despite the dismissal of David Meyler early in the second half, that elusive away win appeared destined to be found.

City even managed to see out the allotted five minutes of time added on but then, in the 96th minute, came that increasingly familiar dagger of deflation. A long throw-in was flicked on by Cameron Jerome for Nelson Oliveira to snatch an equaliser that had begun to appear beyond Norwich.

Daniel Farke, the Canaries boss, burst on to the pitch punching the air just as Slutsky’s shoulders sunk. They had shared the spoils but the two managers’ reactions told very different stories.

Slutsky did not need reminding of his side’s consistent failings.

“I am feeling really terrible inside,” he said. “For the fifth time we have conceded a late goal which has cost us points – and this was the latest of them all, in the sixth minute of five minutes of injury time.”

Read More

That was City’s obvious gripe as players, led by Michael Dawson, raged at referee Keith Stroud after the full-time whistle. The additional time had been successfully navigated and that ought to have been that.

Stroud, though, pointed to the booking of Michael Hector for dissent following a corner that never was as cause for allowing a further 30 seconds of play. Norwich were only too grateful to take advantage, stretching their unbeaten run to seven games.

Late concessions, unjust or otherwise, have now cost City six points. Wins have turned to draws, draws to defeats, and that profligate streak is the reason Slutsky’s men reside in the bottom half of the Championship. City would be in the slipstream of the top six with sharper concentration.

Markus Henriksen of Hull City rues a missed at Norwich

A first away win in 14 months should have come in Norfolk but amid the disappointment there were still positives. Dicko’s first goal since arriving from Wolves was a supremely confident finish and but for Oliviera’s late strike it would have capped a stoic collective resistance.

“We defended really well for over 35 minutes with 10 men but when you play for that long like that it is always possible to lose concentration for a few seconds,” said Slutsky. “I feel very sorry for the players because it was a good performance considering seven of the side had just come back from international duty – they gave their all but we couldn’t quite hold out.”

Read More

The game’s turning point was Meyler’s dismissal. Already on a yellow card for a late challenge on James Maddison in the first half, the midfielder was lured into a tangle with Yanic Wildschut as Norwich broke at speed. A second yellow was harsh but the challenge had been naïve.

“I think David is more disappointed with the decision he made rather than the sending-off. When you have one yellow card you have to be very careful,” accepted Slutsky.

David Meyler was sent off in the second half for Hull City (Image: Focus)

Until that 57th-minute incident, City were in control. Although Norwich enjoyed the bulk of possession, the Tigers were compact and disciplined to repel their hosts’ advances. When holes did appear, Allan McGregor was again the Tigers’ saviour. Two saves denied Wildschut in a first half that also saw Maddison’s long-range attempt clip the outside of the post. Dawson and his partner Hector never blinked in a pairing that gave very little away and it was the latter who was to thank for creating City’s opener.

Intercepting a pass 25 yards from his own goal, Hector burst forward and picked out Markus Henriksen to continue the counter. The Norway international, preferred ahead of Jon Toral in the number 10 role, then sliced open Norwich’s defence, allowing Dicko to finish smartly from the edge of the box.

Norwich were unconvincing in their pursuit of an equaliser for much of the hour that followed Dicko’s opener but Meyler’s sending off made it far tougher than it was ever likely to be for City.

Manager Leonid Slutsky of Hull City at Carrow Road (Image: Focus)

The Canaries enjoyed 72 per cent of possession, swamping their hosts. Many of their 25 attempts on goal were wayward from distance but the pressure deep in City territory was unrelenting. Jarrod Bowen’s run and shot from the edge of the penalty area was the Tigers’ only real opportunity for a second and their slender advantage proved to be agonisingly insufficient.

One last desperate attack came in the sixth minute of stoppage time. A long throw was flicked on and

Oliveira did what no team-mate had managed when getting in between Dawson and Hector to flick beyond McGregor. As well as the Scotland international is performing, it is just one clean-sheet in a dozen games this season.

“To me it is ridiculous we didn’t win the game, “ said Farke, whose celebrations on the pitch brought him a ticking off from the officials. “We should have won this game but from the position we were in I am obviously delighted we came away with a point.”

Slutsky? Less so. The head coach who had anxiously paced his technical area for much of the game was left to lament another lapse from his wasteful team. Any climb up the table rests on addressing this damaging flaw.